Update: Morgan Mengel pleads guilty to first-degree murder (video)

(Updated 12:45 p.m.) WEST CHESTER ó Morgan Marie Mengel, the West Goshen woman accused of engineering the death of her husband by her young lover, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges Tuesday as her trial was on the verge of beginning.

Mengel, 37, was sentenced to life in state prison without parole, plus a consecutive sentence of 20 years probation for conspiring with a man who worked in the landscaping cmpany she ran with her husband, 33-year-old Kevin Mengel Jr.

At an emotional haring before Senior Judge Thomas Gavin, Kevin Mengelís family vented their anger at Morgan Mengel for having taken him away from his three children.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Patrick Cardmody, who led the prosecution, said the case was not one of a love triangle gone bad.

ďMorgan Mengel only loved herself,Ē he said after the plea.

(earlier version)WEST CHESTER ó A Chester County woman accused of conspiring with her lover to kill her husband pleaded guilty in court Tuesday to first-degree murder.

On the first day of a new trial on the charges, Morgan Mengel pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of her husband, Kevin Mengel, who was allegedly hit over the head with a shovel by Mengelís lover. Mengel said in court Tuesday that she was pleading guilty because she wanted the process of healing to begin.

Her plea and statements came during an emotional court hearing in which letters from Mengelís three children were read aloud, asking why their mother could be so cruel to their father.

Kevin Mengelís family also gave testimony blaming Morgan Mengel for destruction of a loving family.

Senior Judge Thomas Gavin, who was overseeing the hearing, declined to add time to the life sentence Mengel was expected to receive.